The World Bank and the Federal Government have commended the Cross River State Government for its high level of implementation of key actions in the Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement, and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project in the State despite some restrictions.
The commendation was given at the 10th Implementation Support Mission of the APPEALS Project held on Monday in Calabar.
The mission was led by World Bank Task Team Leader, Dr Manievel Sene, and his colleagues from the Bank, accompanied by the National Project Coordinator, Alhaji Mohammed Jobdi.
Dr Sene, who hailed the Cross River APPEALS Project’s for exhibiting a high level of implementation even above target, urged the state to ensure a good finishing work in their infrastructure and called for proper inspection of infrastructure before handing it over.
APPEALS Project is jointly facilitated by the World Bank and Federal Government. The mission’s main objective is to analyse key implementation challenges encountered by the participating states, assess the project’s compliance with applicable fiduciary and check the overall implementation status across all components towards its closing date of September 30.
It is also to launch an end-line impact assessment survey and assess progress towards the preparation of the borrower’s Project Completion Report.
Speaking during the 10th Implementation support mission in Calabar, the National Project Coordinator of APPEALS Project, Mohammed Jobdi, said, “Our mission to Cross River State today is very crucial because as you’re aware all Donor and World Bank projects have a timeline and we need to complete whatever activities or subprojects that we have within the timeframe.
“Cross River has not really done too bad in terms of infrastructure which is very critical to support our farmers in terms of Aggregation and Cottage processing centres, farm access roads and infrastructure support to Agribusiness in the project. That is an area that is a little bit delayed but we are hopeful that before the end of the project, we’ll be able to achieve these activities in the state.
“Challenges are a normal thing in life, even in business activity but sometimes due to some interferences or administrative procedure or political, sometimes it slows the time of implementation of the activity. We are using it as lessons learnt, not only in Cross River State but in other states also where the APPEALS project is being implemented,
He appealed to states to at least reduce its bureaucratic bottleneck to avoid situations where projects will not be abandoned in states.
Also speaking, the State Project Coordinator of Cross River State APPEALS Project, Dr Marcel Agim, assured that Cross River State would hit 100% implementation before the end of the project while assuring that in the next three weeks, the state will be hitting 97 to 98 per cent completion and will close strong.
“Thanks to His Excellency, the governor of Cross River State, Senator Prince Bassey Otu, who came and saw our plight because one of our chief hindrances in implementation was a series of approval before we could go ahead.
We explained this to His Excellency, and he looked into it and saw that the project cannot refund money back to the World Bank with penalties attached, he immediately cleared the restrictions and said we should go ahead with great speed to implement so that we can be at the same level with other states of the federation, he narrated.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Shukroh Adeyemi is a first-class graduate of the Department of English, Lagos State University (LASU), for the…
Full list: Names of ex-governors receiving pensions in 10th Senate
No fewer than 13 former governors still receive pension allowances as serving senators in the…
Mmesoma’s father apologises, begs JAMB, Nigerians, to pardon daughter
Mr Romanus Ejikeme, the father of Mmesoma Ejikeme, the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidate who…
Asisat Oshoala shortlisted for 2023 Ballon d’Or award
Nigerian football star and Super Falcons forward, Asisat Oshoala, has been named as a nominee for the…
3 lessons from the ethnicization of JAMB controversy
OVER the last few days, Irecoiled in horror and disgust as the fairly straightforward case of JAMB exam result fraud by…
Rahinatu Ibrahim, popularly called Ganga, recalled with nostalgia when she first embarked on her journey to the…
and then